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Maricopa County’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America,” Joe Arpaio, says he’s considering running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Jon Kyl.
That said, New Times guaran-damn-tees he won’t actually run.
“The issue is whether I want to leave this office and go to Washington and try to make a difference there, which I would do if I run and win,” the 78-year-old Arpaio tells The Hill. “I think I could do that job.”
Sorry, Joe, we’ve heard it all before.
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As you may recall, Arpaio pulled a similar stunt last year when he claimed to be considering running for governor. And he did the same thing four years earlier, when he also claimed he was mulling over a run for the governorship.
In neither case did Arpaio actually run.
You see, Arpaio seems to get off on seeing his name in the headlines, and what better way to make that happen than to continually fuel speculation about potentially running for office — and a poll showing he’s the front-runner certainly doesn’t help things.
According to a poll by the Summit Consulting Group, Arpaio leads other possible Republican candidates for the Senate seat.
The poll reported 21 percent of likely GOP voters would choose Arpaio; 17 percent would vote for Congressman Jeff Flake; 16.6 percent favored former TV pitchman J.D. Hayworth; 12 percent would vote for former Congressman John Shadegg, and 6 percent would choose freshman Congressman Ben Quayle.
Both Quayle and Shadegg have said they don’t plan on running. We expect a similar announcement from Arpaio — after he’s sucked as much media attention possible out of “considering” a run, that is.
